


Family Matters

by Darkangel1214



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-08-13
Updated: 2011-08-13
Packaged: 2017-10-22 14:07:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/238859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkangel1214/pseuds/Darkangel1214
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ch 1: Home Again

It was a large room with a high angled ceiling; a beautiful brick fireplace sits unused in the far corner. An oriental rug sits on the floor in front of it. Beyond the rug, there are two old-fashioned red arm chairs between them was a table with an unfinished chess game. An oak bookcase filled with books on biology and genetics stood tall next the massive four poster cherry wood bed.

She smiles it was the room of an old man and wasn't very different from the room he had when he was a boy. She walks over and glides her hand along his dresser passing a lamp with a statue of a DNA strand next to it. She pauses when she sees it, a picture she picks up and stares at it, smiling at the memory of happier times. The two young smiling faces of children are suddenly replaced by her own reflection, her shoulder length black hair, blue eyes and a face that wasn't hers. The mask that she once hid behind, the face that disgusted her now because it wasn't real, it wasn't hers.

"What are you doing here?" A deep voice growls into her ear as she feels the cold tip of a metal against the back of her neck, startled she drops the picture and the glass shatters as it hits the ground. She moves to throw him which was stupid she had no powers. She had been fighting for so long it was reflex to attack.

Logan easily flips her around, she continues to fight him, she was trained but he was stronger. He pushes her and they crash on to the bed. The bed she's fallen asleep on many times when she was little. It was funny how used to having someone else to turn she had gotten in a short amount of time. She had been living on her own for two years before she wandered into in his house. His house was huge and more often than not it was just the two of them and even though her room was across the hall she felt alone. So she'd walk into his room and crawl into his bed, she'd fall asleep curled against him.

Wolverine's other two claws slide out and touch her neck while his hand held the collar of her shirt. "That was the issue then, you like to be on top" she says to him with a smile. She feels the pressure of his claws just above her skin, a little more would be all it took to pierce it.

Logan glares at her and looks down at the photograph that fell out of her hand. The splintered glass made a web over the picture but it still intact, it was a picture of a young boy with a mop of brown hair; he supposed it was a young Professor Xavier. He was smiling with his arm around a young blond girl who was also smiling at the camera. He could never really imagine the Professor being a child; he would believe the Professor was born an old man. He turns his attention back to Mystique "Since I'm in a good mood, I'll ask again. What are you doing here?"

She keeps her eyes locked on to his and presses her hips against him and smiles she remembered the way his lips felt, the way his hardened muscles felt against hers. He thought she was that demented Jean Gray but still he was a good kisser. She sighs he still wasn't interested. "I'm not here to hurt anyone; I couldn't even if I wanted to. I'm human" Logan still glaring at her raises his eye brow. "I got injected by the gene suppressor, I've lost my powers"

"That still doesn't answer my question?" Logan snarls not caring. This woman had caused as many problems as Magneto which made sense as she was his right hand woman.

Raven closes her eyes. "I'm here for him" she tells Logan.

There was sadness evident in her voice but he couldn't trust her. "Him, you didn't even know him" he says to her.

"Actually she knew him long before any of us, Logan" Another deep male voice says from behind. He pads into the room and looks at her. "She's his sister"

Logan tilts his head to make sure he heard correctly then turns to look at him. "His sister?" Logan repeats.

"Hello Hank" Raven greets the blue Beast.

Hank pads over and his furred paw picks up the photograph through the broken glass. "Yes, the girl in this picture is her" he tells Logan and hands him the picture.

Logan takes it while still holding his claws against her throat. He studies the picture and looks at her. Mystique copies the smile the young girl is making. Even without her shape shifting abilities she can still mimic people perfectly. "Impossible he never mentioned you were his sister"

"Did you ask?" Raven says to him. "You wanted to know your past did you ever ask Charles about his?" She knew he didn't, none of them did. Charles was all about helping everyone else over himself. "It's the same with all men; they'll stare, think lewd thoughts, shag you and never get your first name let alone the last." She says to him. "Raven Xavier" she says holding out her hand to him in the small space he had left between them. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Wolverine climbs off of her and stands up looking at the picture. They were both smiling brightly; the boys arm was secured tightly around her shoulder, protecting her. The girl was leaning against his arm knowing she was safe. He doesn't remember the Professor ever smiling like he was in the picture. "You think he would've said something"

"Why would he, I've disappointed him the most. I was his oldest friend, his family and his very first student and I betrayed him." Logan just kept looking at the picture then back at her. She pulls herself into a sitting position and looks at the two of them.

"Why are you here, Raven?" this time it was Hank who asks.

"She's human" Logan replies. Hank looks at her brows furrowed.

"I didn't want it, you know that." She says "Mutant…and proud" she tells him with a smile that gets her a little smile from Hank and a confused look from Logan. "The soldiers they were aiming for Erik…I jumped in front…"

"You took it for him" Hank finishes.

"Yes, and afterwards he looked at me like I disgusted him because I was now human, normal. He left and didn't look back" she tells them. She didn't know why she would've expected more from him, but she did. She had been by his side for years, helping him, killing for him. Then he just left, she wondered now if that's how Charles felt when she left him that day on the beach. After everything they've been through, everything they've done it was that easy to walk away. She still believed that the humans would never truly accept them it was exactly like he had written in his thesis the dominant species will eventually push the weaker one out of the way into extinction. Why would we need to cohabitate with them when we could rule them? "They've suppressed my abilities but I am not one of them"

"I don't trust you" Logan tells her point blank.

She laughs. "I know. But this is the only place I've ever called home"

"We can't let her stay here" he says turning to Hank.

Hank looks over at the woman sitting on the edge of the bed, without her abilities she couldn't hide behind her mask and when he looked into her eyes he saw the young girl he met that day. The young girl that looked at him and told him he was amazing. He knows what she's done and he was disappointed as well. However if Charles were here he wouldn't push her away, he would take her in. "We can't let you wander around the mansion" he tells her. "I don't trust you for that, we do have somewhere we can put you for now" Raven appreciated that Hank was speaking to her when telling her he was going to lock her up. Raven nods her head in understanding, stands up and follows them.

Tbc…


	2. The Ties that Bind Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt  
________________________________________________________________________________

Logan watches her on the monitors. The room she was in was a new addition to the mansion, they had all argued about it for weeks but it was necessary. The Professor may have trusted that everyone would find the right path, but some weren't just a danger to others they were a danger to themselves. And after what happened with Jean, he couldn't allow that to happen again. This room was just a safety precaution. It had chains but Hank had told him they wouldn't be using them. He still thought they should. She may not have her powers but she was highly trained and skilled in many things that he's found throughout their encounters.

He expected her to studying the room so she could plan an escape route. But all she did was get on the bed, curl up and appeared to be asleep. He didn't know what to make of her, he never did. She was exactly what her name implied. She could be anyone at any time; she even turned herself into him. He thought he had killed her once and that affected him more than he thought it should.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He asks Beast when he returns to the room.

"It wasn't my place" Beast replies. "Here" he says holding out a picture to Wolverine. "This was taken in 1962 after Charles and Erik had brought us all together."

Logan's eyes glide over the picture looking at the faces of the people in it. They were standing in front of a building there were six men and three women. "That's Erik" Hank says pointing to the tall stoic man dressed in black. He was only slightly older than the rest of the people in the picture. "That's me" Hank says pointing to a tall gangly looking boy with glasses. Logan looks at the blue beast with one eyebrow raised and a smile. He follows young Hank's eyes to see a blonde girl dressed in a tight black dress with boots that came to her knees. "That's Raven" Even in the picture he could see that Hank was enamored with the girl. However the girl's eyes weren't looking back at him but at the young man that had his arms around her shoulders. They were smiling at each other as if sharing a secret that only they knew. "And that's the professor" Logan says before Hank can speak.

"She was a different girl back then" He says in on almost wistful tone as he watches her on the screens.

After she heard the mechanics of the door locking Raven walked over to the bed in the corner and lay down. She was used to getting what she wanted but the one thing she wanted most was for Charles to give up his hope in humanity and join them, she knew Erik wanted that too. The three of them together would've been unstoppable. But he wouldn't give up his hope that humanity would accept them no matter how many times they let him down.

If you asked her to name people she cared about she could only name a few. One she devoted her life to and he abandoned her when she needed him most, one she left behind because she didn't share the same views and now he was gone. And there was only one other but he didn't even know she existed and it was better that way. She knew it was risk coming here, Wolverine could've killed her after all he almost did before and he had every reason to want her dead. But she wanted to be somewhere familiar, somewhere she felt safe. But without him here it didn't feel familiar, it felt empty. Without him it was just a place. She had heard once when she was younger that a home is only as good as the people you know in it and she didn't know anyone here anymore. She turns to her side and closes her eyes.

*************************8

 _"Raven" She heard his voice call her. "Are you asleep?" He asked lightly knocking again._

 _"No" she replied. She still had trouble sleeping, this house was too quiet. She was used to hearing noise, whether it was the other children in the orphanage whispering and giggling or the sounds of the streets, hacking and coughing, the engines of automobiles, the stench of alcohol stanched men and other sounds that at that time her seven year old self shouldn't haven't heard, the sounds that made her have to sleep lightly in case they came for her. Although maybe she should've done something because they probably would've run away from screaming from a blue skinned child, but she was always too scared to find out. Charles told her she could stay but she was always worried that he would wake up one day and tell her to leave. "Come in" she told him as she rolled over and sat up._

 _"I am deeply sorry if I've woken you" He said. She smiled at the way he always talked so proper, like an adult instead of the twelve years old he was._

 _"I wasn't asleep" She told him pulling the blanket up covering her. She still wasn't used to the fact that he wasn't revolted by the sight of her. He was the first person that wasn't scared of her, the first person she's ever had to really talk too._

 _"You don't have to hide from me Raven" He told her. "Here in this house you are safe" She nods. He laughed. "I almost forgot the reason I'm came here" He reached into the pocket of striped pajamas and pulled out a wooden box and handed it to her. She just stared at it, so he held it closer to her. "It's for you" She hesitantly took it from his hands and just looked at it. "You do need to open it so you can see what's inside"_

 _She looked at the box as if it was going to blow up in her face. "It's not going to explode, it's just a box" She glanced up at him. "Sorry, it's a habit. It's just I really want you to open it." She placed her hand on top and slowly lifted the lid. Inside on a white cloth laid a key with a chain attached to it. She pulled it out and lets it dangle from her fingertips. "It's a key" he told her._

 _"I know, a key to what?" she asked._

 _Charles laughed. "A key to the house" he answered. "This is your house now too"_

 _"You're giving me a key to your house?" she asks still in shock no one had ever given her anything before and nothing as important as what Charles had just given her._

 _"Our house" he corrects her_

 _She lets the key fall into her palm. "Our house" she repeated barely above a whisper._

 _"This will always be your home, Raven"_

****************

Raven smiles thinking of the promises of young children before they grow up and realize that promises of forever are hard to keep. Days turned into months and before she knew it forty years had passed. And in that time she stopped going with Erik to see him on the missions where they shared a common goal, she supposed it was the little sister in her that couldn't bear to see the disappointment in his face. So much had happened, so much had changed she didn't think she could ever go back. Now here she was but it was too late. He wasn't invincible, he wasn't immortal she always expected him to be around, she felt lost without him. She wipes the tears from her eyes.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Moira" she hears him call her name in her head. She excuses herself from her colleagues and walks down the hallway towards his room. She was shocked by the huge smile he had on his face or rather the smile of the patient whose mind he inhabited. "Charles?"

"She's come home" he says. He wasn't disappointed in her when he told her to go with Erik. He kept his promise. He didn't have to read her mind to know that's what she wanted. He saw it in her eyes from the night before. How often in life that we are blind to what is right in front of us. He was telling her that the humans would accept them however he made her hide behind a mask of normalcy afraid of what others would think. How would he expect her to believe society would accept them if he made her afraid to accept herself? He wasn't disappointed in her, he was disappointed in himself. He wished so many times that he could take back telling her she had a cosmetic problem. He couldn't believe how dense and naive he had been back then. Erik had succeeded where he had failed her.

Moira raises her eyebrows waiting for him to explain further. He was lost in his own thoughts so she waits patiently for him to continue.

"Raven" he replies softly. He often scanned the mansion to see how things were going. With Ororo in charge things were running smoothly, like he expected. Then he felt her presence, he felt her anguish, her heartache, her loss. He had to stop himself from reading her mind; after everything that's happened he still wanted to know what was wrong; he wanted to know how to make it better.

"Raven?" Moira asks, surprised to hear him say her name. She hasn't gone by Raven in a long time. "Charles" she says and it's all she needs to say he could after all read her mind and know what she's thinking. Xavier just looks at her through someone elses eyes.

"Moira, my dear, years may have separated us, viewpoints may have divided us but I've never stopped being her brother"

Tbc…


	3. Freeing the Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A powerless Raven returns to only place she's ever called home. Where she finds out that she's not as alone as she thinks. Charles may still be alive.

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family" - Anthonay Brandt  
____________________________________________________________________________________________

She walked down the street wearing a tank top and the shortest shorts she could find. No one paid her any mind because New York was a sauna today. The weatherman said it was hundred degrees but with the humidity it felt like a hundred and twenty. Not that the heat would've stopped her from showing of her skin, skin that she wasn't afraid of anymore. People still probably thought she was a freak when she wanted to shake everyone's hands all the time. Just the simplest brush of contact sent tingles down her spine. She loved being able to walk around without gloves and not have to worry about killing anyone.

She knew with her power she was more helpful then she was now and it did save her life more than once. And it wasn't that she was ashamed of being a mutant; she just wanted to know what it felt like to be held without layers of clothing in-between, to be touched. Maybe that was selfish of her but everyone takes the simplest things for granted, human contact, skin to skin even in something as simple as a handshake.

She turns the corner towards Central Park and is nearly flattened by a teenager in a bright yell jacket running down the street, she looks behind the girl and sees she's being chased by cops? No she looks closer and sees that they are heavily armed men dressed in black. The girl spins around and shoots blinding red lights from her hands at the men. The men stop and cover their faces while she backs herself against the wall; she was powerless and could only watch the young mutant try to escape. Were they still trying to round up mutants and give them the cure? She took it because she wanted too but they should have the right to chose. Marie pulls out her cell phone and dials his number.

______________________________________________________________________________________

The memory of happier times, simpler times etched into her mind. She still thought about what her life would've been like had she never met Charles Xavier. And what her life would've been like had she stayed with him. Would her life have taken the same course? "They found you" she says without turning around. She wipes the tears from her eyes she couldn't face him until her face was a mask again.

"Who did?" Wolverine answers surprised that she knew he was there. Hank told him that he thought that the Professor's protectiveness of Jean, his trust in her was to try and make up for the mistakes he made with Raven. He never gave up his hope that Jean would find her way back and maybe he thought Raven would too.

His scent of testosterone and musk was unforgettable, she'd recognize it anywhere. "Charles and Erik. In the sixties." She rolls over and faces him. He was standing by the bars of her room. "I believe… you told them to go fuck themselves"

"That sounds like me" he says as he looks through the bars at the women lounging seductively on the bed. If it was the sixties he really wasn't paying attention to much of anything. He just wanted to be left alone.

"Who knows had you gone with them we would've met under different circumstances" she says with a smile as she rises from the bed. She prided herself on being able to bed any one she wanted; male, female; after all she was the perfect fantasy, but not him. And that hurt her ego just a little.

"When you were the young innocent girl" he says with an eyebrow raised.

"I was young, but hardly as innocent as everyone thought, including my brother" she says with a smile.

"I don't doubt that" Logan agrees with her. With that one picture he saw of her, all of the men were glancing at her, even Magneto. In spite of himself he was fascinated with the blue shape shifter even more now knowing she was the professor's sister. It would've been interesting to know her before she became Mystique. When he thought he had killed her in that brief moment when his eyes locked with hers he saw that like him her eyes were older than her face.

His cell phone rings. "Rogue?" He asks when after he saw her name appear on the screen. "Marie, calm down I can't understand you" he yells into the tiny device. "What? Ok, we're on our way?"

"I can help" Raven says when he hangs up the phone. Rogue was screaming through the phone so she heard every word. None of them needed to be cured, so she wasn't going to let the humans force the cure on anyone. "You're dealing with armed trained men and how many of your students are as trained in hand to hand combat as me"

Logan looks at her and knows she's right. She was a fast and efficient fighter, she would've have given him trouble when he was still fighting in the cages. With all the losses they've suffered they only had untrained young teenagers to help them. He growls and punches in the code to unlock the door. They run up the stairs as he shouts for Beast and Storm.

They come running to meet him. Storm looks at the dark haired woman. "Mystique?" Storm asks not hiding the disdain in her voice. "What is she doing here?"

"Rogue called she's in New York there's some men trying to capture a young mutant" he tells Storm, they didn't have time to explain Mystique's presence right now. "She's coming with us"

"Since when did we start trusting her?" Storm asks.

"We don't but right now we don't have a choice, there's a young girl that needs our help, Ororo" Beast tells her putting his hands on her shoulders. Storm glances at her then nods her head. They run down the stairs to the hanger. Bobby and Kitty are already there and suited up. "We over heard you, we're ready to help" Bobby tells them.

Raven sits in the chair adjusting the collar of the suit they gave her. She didn't understand the point of wearing this if it was going to feel like a second skin, they might as well not wear anything at all. The suits Hank had made them before were at least a little more breathable. Or she just wasn't used to being covered from neck to toe in clothing. She just shrugs her shoulders as they all turn to look at her as her suit squeaks as she continues to move it around. Beast just sighs as the jet shoots upwards.

"How does it feel to not have powers?" Bobby asks her from the seat next to her.

Raven smiles, the boy was trying to sound tough probably trying to impress the girl. "Mundane" Raven replies and looks over at him.

"Mundane" he repeats.

"It means common, ordinary, boring"

"I know what it means"

"You're smarter than you look" she replies and turns away from him. She sighs and wondered what Charles would think if he saw her wearing the X-men suit once again. Erik needed his helmet to keep Charles out of his mind, she didn't. Charles kept his promise of never reading her mind even when it could've helped them maybe was too afraid to find out what she was thinking.

Beast lands Blackbird just inside Central Park. The team ran down the ramp, they had spotted the men from above. Without the professor they had to rely on heat sensor technology to find the girl and the men. They split up into two's to find both Rogue and the girl.

Wolverine used his senses while Mystique watched the dots moving around on the screen. It wasn't long before they found them. The girl was smart enough to lose herself among the vastness of Central Park. Wolverine's claws slid out and Mystique moved in front him and held his arms at his sides. She turns, winks and walks towards the Government thugs.

"Excuse me, Mr. Officer" she says in a southern accent. Both men turn towards her and she smiles and sashays over to them. They were momentarily confused until they saw her outfit but that was enough for her. One of the men raises his gun she grabs the barrel twisting down and then rams it upwards slamming it into the man's face, he crashes to the ground. Wolverine moves quickly and takes out the second man. The commotion had brought them more attention and they heard footsteps running towards them.

Mystique moves her head side to side and cracks her neck; she'd been itching for a fight. She jumps behind a tree as about five men ran into the clearing that was the plan they had come up with Wolverine would take care of the first wave and she'd handled the stragglers. Wolverine was smiling at them and they opened fire, she heard the clanging sounds as he easily deflected their bullets with his claws.

She pretended to be preoccupied with watching Wolverine so the man behind her thought he was sneaking up on her, while another was coming at her from the front. He moves forward and she quickly turns grabs his wrist, twists it and uses his momentum to fling him into the man in front they collide with sticky slap like a boxer's fist against a frozen caucus.

"Freeze" she hears from behind her three more had join the fun. A hand clamps down on her shoulder. Without even glancing behind her, she snaps her elbow into the center of his face, hearing the crack of his nose as he falls and collapses. The other two were advancing on her but before they could react her right leg was already a blur of motion, sweeping through air in a roundhouse kick that snapped the gun out of their hands. Still in midair she shifted her position and aimed her heels into their stomachs. Two men let out a simultaneous groan and Raven uses their muscles and organs as a trampoline to launch herself into a somersault past them.

Wolverine had taken care of his group of men easily so he turned to take care of hers. But was impressed with what he was seeing, each kick and jab, each swivel of her hips was taking them down. Even without her powers she was holding her own.

They heard a scream and they both took off running in the direction it came from. They reach another clearing and see Rogue and the girl being dragged towards a van. Wolverine sprints towards them slashing through the men in his way. He reaches the girls and launches himself in the air at them and his claws sink into their Kevlar vests. Rogue and the girl are pushed to the ground but otherwise unhurt. He radios in to Beast, Storm, Iceman and Shadowcat that he found them. He motions his head towards Raven who had joined him and she nods while he goes to take care of the rest of the men.

"When I tell you to, fall to the ground" She whispers to them. "Now" she shouts as she twists around and aims a jump kick to the man that was coming behind them the force of her kick made a bloody gash across the man's face right next to his nose. He recovered quicker then she thought he would and swings the butt of his gun towards her she only has time to move enough to not get the full brunt of the force as it hits the side of her face. She falls but catches herself with her hands her eyes were spinning dizzyingly out of control from the hit. Through her blurred vision she saw three more of them advancing towards them. They hold their guns ready to fire at both teenagers. Her mind snaps into focus she instinctively reacts by swinging her leg out and sends them toppling to the ground. She pushes all the power into her back, shoots upwards and lands on her feet, her head was still spinning as she tries to hold her balance. She looks at the men and just like he taught her all those years ago she pushes her mind into a state of pure concentration and lets the adrenaline cascade through her body stripping her body of pain and places her hands up in a combat stance.

She whips her hand out and grabs the barrel of the first gun bringing it towards and brings her knee up to connect with his groin. He doubles over groaning and she brings his gun down hard against the back of his head and collapses on the ground. The other two advance towards her and throws an elbow deep into one of their stomachs cracking his ribs and then spun into a roundhouse kick that connected with the other's face. Her adrenaline spurt was quickly draining and she saw more coming towards her.

She looks up when she hears the engines of the jet; Beast lands it in front of them. Raven urges the girls to go to it as she turns around to see how Wolverine is doing. The gash on her head was making her dizzy and the blood pouring in her eyes was blurring her vision. Suddenly a gust of wind nearly knocks her over she feels to hands grab her arms she's too weak to fight but tries anyway.

"Mystique it's us" a young boy's voice says. She looks through her clouded vision and sees it's Bobby on one side and his girlfriend on the other. They bring her inside the jet and lay her down on one of the seats; she sees a tornado forming in the park. Storm was standing next to her with her white eyes staring at the sky. They wait while Wolverine pushes his way through the wind, Raven sees the cuts and bullet holes healing as he makes his way towards the jet. The jet blasts off. She loses consciousness just as the doors start closing.

Tbc…


End file.
